o Tuskers will be tranquilised if 'kunkis' (tame elephants) fail in their task. If operations to use the tamed elephants specially brought in from Karnataka, fail to drive off the 'trouble-making' three elephants plaguing the Nadora-Sal belt of north-east Goa, then the government is likely to go in for tranquilisers. The 'kunkis' made several attempts to befriend members of their tribe who strayed into Goa, but have met with no positive response as of now, officials say. (H)

o Rane reviews progress on Independence Day, and says his government is committed to Goa's development with equity, unity, brotherhood and secularism. (H)

o GOA NEGLECTED SCIENTIFIC GARBAGE DISPOSAL: In the September 2002 issue of Goa Today, I had at length described how the Goa government had neglected the scientific disposal of garbage in Goa. I had indicated how the lackadaisical approach of successive governments had resulted in comunidade land being used as dump sites by five-star hotels and industries in Goa. These large establishments employ private contractors to clear off the hotel or factory waste and quietly and surreptitiously dump the garbage from hotels and industries on hill slopes, forests, comunidade properties, vacant government land and on the beaches of Goa.... Today, the entire Goa is a dumpyard for garbage, sewage sludge and industrial waste --Dr Joe D'Souza. (H)

o MUMBAI'S LITTLE GOA STRUGGLES TO RECOVER FROM FLOODS: St Anthony's Homes Society in the middle class suburb of Chembur is a plot owners' society formed by several Goans who came to what was then known as Bombay in the 1940s. These Goans who had made a mark for themselves in the city had bought several acres of land in the village of Chembur, and formed themselves into a co-operative society. Goans are spread all over Mumbai... one of them John D'Souza, did not live to tell his tale as he gave his life trying to rescue little children --Arvind Pinto. (H)

o Goy basla jwalamukhicher, pun prashashan maat ghoreta. (Goa is on the precipice, but the administration is snoring, cover story in the Konkani monthly Bimb)

o Plans for constructing a cable-stayed bridge across the River Zuari continues to remain at a standstill as the approval of the Central Government is yet to be obtained, official sources in the public-works department said. (H)

o Cops continue tirade against gambling dens in Vasco. (H)

o None of the seven panchayat members of Uguem panchayat in Sanguem turned up for the flag-hosting. Only at 9.15 am, after a phone call, one panchayat member came to the venue, much to the anger of villagers. (H)

o Forest department undertook a cleaning operation at three main points of the dense forest at Nadora, where wild elephants have been playing hide-and-seek. (H)

o Stress, irregular diet plaguing Goa police, says doctor. (H)

o Goan 19-year-old violin talented teenager Sanya Cotta, born in Hamburg of Goan parents, has been offered a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music, London and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester --Cyril D'Cunha. (Goa Today)

o By the way, it amazes me no end to see Parrikar 'howl' foul at just about everything done by the Congress. Apparently, he believes he is a Constitutional pundit, as he continues to point to some arcane Constitutional provisions to prove his point. We know how he tried with might and main to stymie the Speaker's election by invoking an abstruse clause, which, in his wisdom, illegitimated the Congress' mode of getting the Speaker and the deputy speaker elected. But then, Parrikar has been meeting with failure after failure, in case after case that he has taken to Court. Isn't it a commentary on his soi disant Constitutional punditry? --Vinayak Naik. (Goa Today)

SUPPORT FOR FOOTBALL: Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane urged the All India Football Federation secretary Alberto Colaco to bring foreign football teams to play in Goa and assured his government's full-fledged support in hosting the foreign teams. (H)

FOLLOW-ON GCA: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in a sensitive development, dealt a firm blow to the Goa Cricket Association, instituting a fresh investigation into the infamous ticket-gate controversy of the GCA, during the one-dayer played at Fatorda against Australia in 2001. Pending the new investigation into the alleged scam, the Goa Cricket Association will not be allotted international matches, nor will they be paid their money, BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra told the media after a four-hour long meeting of the working committee today. (H)

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On August 16, at 11 an (Brasilia time, Brazil) Rui Costa will be talking about Goa, Goans, the people of Goa and the history of Goa in the Planeta Terra programe transmited by the web radio of the CREA-RJ. To access, visit the CREA-RJ site and click in the link "AO VIVO" exactly at the hour.

Goa Genealogical Society (GGS) was started in May 2005. It says: "Right now we are setting up the GGS Certificate Procurement Service to help all budding genealogists in Goa and around the world get any Civil or Church paper from Goa." Troy Alphonso and team's work was highlighted by Rene Barreto of World Goa Day. Rene says: "This need came about - after he found it difficult to access the information he was looking for in Goa." Generally people with the patience to spend up to a few hours looking for records that should be there but aren't in the right place. To join this network send in a blank email to GoaGenealogicalSociety-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The society is a cyber based organisation and is a part of the Alliance of World Goan Organisations.

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Digital radio broadcaster World Space's M.Sebastian <MSebastian@worldspace.com> is currently in Dubai, where he is taking care of its Middle East operations. He wrote in recently, "I am copying this mail to Deepak Varma <dvarma@worldspace.com>, who is the Managing Director of WorldSpace India. I am sure he will explore the feasibility of having a Konkani channel on our platform." If you want let your voice get heard in favour of Konkani, please write to Mr Varma. World Space www.worldspace.com can be heard in India, the Middle East, and Africa. Its radios cost Rs 4000 at the low end, and a yearly subscription costs between Rs 1200 to 1800 for 24 hours of near-CD quality broadcasts on nearly three dozen channels. Earlier, we had written to World Space, saying: "Could WorldSpace think of a channel for Konkani? We have some great software here...."

Last week, I found myself at Delhi on the nomination jury of the Vatavaran 2005 festival of environmental films. This event's final showing is scheduled to be held in late November, also in the national capital. Viewing the films were a mix of film professionals, environmentalists, writers on the environment, print journalists, educators. Click here for more information.

One good thing about this task (watching 40 films spread over three days) was that there were so many useful green ideas coming up from across the length and breadth of South Asia.

It was fascinating to learn of the problems that people are facing in diverse parts of India (tourism in the icy desert of Ladakh, floods in eastern India as 'development' has come to mean the embankments of rivers and their disruption by roads and railways like what's happening on a smaller scale in Goa, innovative solutions to tackle problems and so on).

One of the films was how people at Kovalam in Kerala (the tourist centre) are tackling their waste woes, with a zero-waste approach picked up from Australia and New Zealand. At the end of the film, one was still not sure whether this can be replicated across a large area, or is just one of those NGO-oriented pilot projects types which look great at the micro-scale but simply refuse to scale up.

Rain-water harvesting was the theme of other films – something which is surely of relevance to Goa. There were films on the jatropa tree --which Goanetter Miguel Braganza has been writing about --and how it is being used by farmers as a substitute to diesel in their tractors and water-pumps. Priests in Pilar are promoting it in Goa too.

Unfortunately, the spread of the documentary (and film) culture has been rather unequal across India. The big cities (Delhi, Mumbai) are of course ahead and have the equipment and skills at their service. States like Kerala and West Bengal also have long-standing traditions in film-making... for reasons which I've not been able to quite comprehend.

As far as I know, there was not a single film dealing with Goa coming up for this competition. Actually, there are 2-3 films which could have qualified to take part, since this fest included all films made between 2000 and 2005. One was the film on mining, about Rivona, made by a young student in the 24x7 competition at the last IFFI. Another was that very interesting story of Goa's changing coastline done by NIO scientist Padmanabh V Sathe (already described on the web in quite some detail). It was perhaps my own fault for not drawing their attention to this festival.

Meanwhile, Alito Siqueira and team (which involves Cecil Pinto and Isabela Santa Rita Vaz, among others) have been working on their 'visual knowledge' project. I do hope this and other ventures throw up some useful Goa-linked film projects that builds further green awareness about issues in a state which we often take for granted.

Do anyone know of any other films related that Goa that are currently available? Can someone take the lead and build a 'film archive' for Goa? After all, Goa should be more than a (costly) backdrop for IFFI, and a place which can better tap its talent and skills in other forms of the media too. --Frederick Noronha

PS: If you'd like to join a network discussing Indian documentary film, click here.

PPS: While looking at one of the films from Kerala, my ex-journo colleague who was earlier at the 'Down To Earth' Max Martin nudged me and drew my attention to a genre of film focussing on the 'lost Kerala' and how great the state once was. "That's quite a trend in the thinking of Malayalees," he said. It reminded me of us Goans, who keep lamenting about the state of affairs and how 'Golden Goa' is getting destroyed by the day. In some ways this is true; but the past wasn't all sugar and spice. And can't we also look at the positive options growing and build our human resources to make sure we have a better future? Nice to learn that we're not alone in our obsession. Is Goastalgia directly linked with the high level of emigration we have, as is the case with Kerala?

PPPS: Vatavaran also visits different parts of India as a 'travelling festival'. It would be nice to have something done in Goa too.

Floriano Lobo of Goasuraj <goasurag@sancharnet.in> announces that their party is launching a 'Road Map for Goa' on Saturday, August 20 at 5 pm at the Hotel Manvin's Roof Top. Margao-based eminent consultant physician, cardiologist and social activist Dr Francisco Colaco will be chief guest. Damodar Ghanekar of the Federation of Voters' Council will be guest of honour. This event is also happening on the World Goa Day.

During the function, the prizes -- top of the line 'mountain bikes'-- for the one kilometer bicycle race organized to celebrate the World Goa Day will be handed over to winners. This race will be held from 10 to 11 am on the same day, on the Miramar-Dona Paula road.

"The Goa Su-Raj Party shall be conducting similar constituency-wise bicycle races throughout Goa to make Goans aware that the bicycle needs to be popularized, not only for sports but to adopt it to remain physically fit and also to reduce the threat of ever growing environmental pollution. The Goa Su-Raj Party's dream is to organize a mega bicycle race on the line of Tour de France, to name it as Tour de Goa in the near future as a yearly 'Open Event" since Goa is blessed with a hilly terrain for just such an event," says Lobo.

Sabina Martins, women's campaigner, <sasu@sancharnet.in> says they are formally lodging a complaint against Kingfisher Airlines and and Levis, along with local newspapers Navhind, Herald, Gomantak for publishing adverts depicting controversial and demeaning images of women. Sabina says the campaign will be taken to colleges too, and seeks suggestions.

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Write Clare & Pat on the anniversary of the online Catholic Goan Network: "We are humbled by your kind responses and support. As you know, the CGN's primary aim is to glorify the Kingdom of God. Like John the Baptizer, we should seek to decrease, so that the mercy of Jesus will increase. Click here for more information.

Many of our readers have requested that I post some more International recipes this week and I am happy to oblige because I specialize in Italian/American and Brazilian cuisine and have tested and tasted lots of recipes that will be sure to please your palate. If some of the ingredients are hard to find, please send me an email and I will try and substitute them for you.

Focaccia: an Italian flat bread made with pizza or bread dough, that can be baked plain or topped with onions, zucchini, eggplant, cheese, or whatever you choose. Focaccia doughs are similar in style and texture to pizza doughs consisting of hi! gh-gluten flour, oil, water, sugar, salt and yeast.

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1 cup lukewarm water in a bowl and let sit until foamy. In another bowl, add the remaining 3/4-cup water, the olive oil, and the salt. Pour in the yeast mixture. Blend in the flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough comes together. Knead on a floured board for 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to make it smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl, turn to coat well, and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm draft-free place for 1 hour, until doubled.

Punch down the dough, knead it for about 5 minutes, and gently roll it out to fit a jellyroll pan, 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches. Let rise for 15 minutes, covered. Oil your fingers and make impressions with them in the dough, 1 inch apart. Let rise for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400oF. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Sprinkle with additional oil if desired. Cut into squares and serve warm.

Focaccia with Onions -- slice some onions and sauté them in olive oil until they are soft before adding them to the focaccia - Brush unbaked foccacia generously with olive oil and sprinkle coarse salt over it. Now spread the onions evenly on the focaccia. Bake it in a preheated oven at 450° for 20 to 25 minutes. If the focaccia browns too quickly while baking cover it with tin foil.

Tip: You can basically put anything you like on top of the unbaked focaccia right before it goes in the oven. I tried some canned artichokes, a few slices of tomatoes and a sprinkle of feta cheese the other day and it turned out yummy.

We need your help to promote Goanet, a volunteer-driven network. To submit news, events and event schedules or to share information with fellow Goans across the globe, send a short mail to fred@goanet.org. Discuss the news. Send your views to goanet@goanet.org

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